The Legend that is....BOB
I guess if NightSong Studios were to close it's
doors today, the one true Legend that has recorded here and is talked
about on a weekly basis ever since his first and only visit in 1991,
would be...Bob. We'll call him Bob Dark for this.
I could honestly write a book about Bob and all the people he
has "influenced" over the years, and as far as I know, he has no idea
! To this day, I have customers constantly asking me about him and to
hear his songs. But now, let's go back to where this all started.
It was 1991, and NightSong Recording Studios was in it's first week of
business. I remember because the drywall wasn't even dry yet ! This
day I was still working on some wiring, when a knock came to the
studio door. I opened the door to see a portly little man holding a
rather beat up acoustic guitar ( no case ) with a small sheet of paper
in his hand and a HUGE mustard stain on his shirt. He told me he
wanted to record a 10 song demo of cover songs. I thought " Excellent
!! , he'll need a drummer, bassist,...." I already had it figured for
at least a week or two of work, when Bob says with a very slow
southern draw " I've got $15 bucks ! " After I picked my mouth off
the floor, I figured "What the heck, I'll give ya an hour". That
proved to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. So, I'm
setting up and I hear Bob strum his guitar. Yikes..
severally out of tune ! I mean, were talking each string was at
LEAST 3 to 5 notes off in different directions. I thought maybe he
might have kids who just went crazy with the tuning pegs at home, or
something. So, I grabbed the tuner and handed it to him. Bob just gave
me a blank stare and said " It's ok, it's already in tune !" I said,
"Are you positive about that ?!" Bob said, "Oh, I know it's in tune
!". I couldn't let it go, so I had to ask, "How do you KNOW it's in
tune Bob ?" To this day, I can't believe I heard it when he said"
Well....I have this poster of Elvis at home, and his tuning pegs are
in the same directions as mine are ! " Now ! I should get an Academy
Award for being able to leave the room without dieing laughing ! But
at one point, I did have to shove a towel in my mouth so he wouldn't
hear me laughing during the session. Now, I've already got a couple of
very nice tube microphones setup when he states " I brought my own mic
that I really want to use ". Just then, he whips out a state of the
art REALISTIC ( Radio Shack ) microphone. Not just any Realistic
microphone , but a dictation microphone with two prong adapter and
on/off switch ! oh yeah !! I thought "Oh come on...surely this is a
joke ! " NOPE. He was dead set about using his mic.
So picture this...My first week of business, and here I am recording a
guy who can't sing, who's guitar was tuned by Elvis, with a Realistic
dictation microphone, .. for $15 Bucks ! For legal reasons, I cannot
post a full song of Bob's , but listen to this :10 sec clip to get an
example.
Bob
Dark Guitar Intro.mp3
I honestly remember thinking...."Well, it can only get better than
this !"
And the hysterical thing is, I think Bob has become an underground
classic. Bob's Demo is now overseas in several countries , and I know
of two CEO's who personally said they would pay for his next session (
as long as they get to watch ! ) But here is my favorite Bob Dark
Aftermath story.... I was at Summer
NAMM in Nashville ( I think it was '95 ) and I ran into
Legendary
Producer Eddie Kramer ( he has been to NightSong, but I was amazed
he remembered me ) , anyway, he invited me to go with him to the new
Mars music store to see the grand unveiling of Mackie's new Digital 8
buss console ( which is what we now use ! ). I thought " Oh Man, this
is great ! " So, we get to Mars and go in the back entrance and lo and
behold, there in front of me is
Greg Mackie ( creator /
owner of Mackie Inc ). Moments later, I and Eddie Kramer are
sitting at the console getting the full tour from Greg Mackie himself.
( I would have killed for a camera ! ) Here I am sitting with one man
who is a recording genius, who has worked with everyone from The
Beatles to Jimi Hendrix and the other a musical engineering God. All
three of us still have our name badges on from the NAMM show, when one
of the employees at Mars looks at my badge and says, "Hey...Your the
guy who recorded Bob Dark, aren't you !?"
And so ends the Legend of Bob Dark......or does it ? .........JJ
PS : Bob...if you are out there ! Call me ! We've got a deal for you !
Uncle Jesse, tell us the one
'bout Willie's Wife the Wicked Witch !
This was years ago, but I had a female customer, we'll call her
Bertha for this. Well, Bertha came in wanting to do a CD of her
singing to a bunch of karaoke tracks. No Problem. Well, that is until
she started talking. I mean, we all meet those people that you think
are "fibbing" a little in their stories, but this lady took it to an
Olympic sports level. First off, Bertha was big, I mean REALLY BIG.
But what made this so unusual was , as I would play the next song she
was going to sing to, she would give me a big background story of her
and the artist that made the original song a hit. So, track one : A
song by Hall and Oats. Bertha : " I was married to Daryl Hall but he
was too power hungry." I just played along. The next song was by
Heart. Bertha : " I was actually in the original lineup of Heart, but
just couldn't take the pressure." I thought, ok...this is getting
good. This went on
and on and on ! One of the last songs was by Willie Nelson. Bertha :
"Willie and I have had this on again, off again romance for over a
decade. We've had several children together, but they stay with him.
He still sends me roses every week though. " At this point, I don't
know whether to just outright laugh or feel sorry for her. But then
things get even more strange. While I am still transferring tracks to
the 24 track system, Bertha asks if I can dim the lights in the main
room so she can light some candles to get herself in the mood to sing.
Again, no problem. Moments later I notice allot of candle flickering
coming from the darkness of the main room. I looked up over the
console to my dismay and outright shock....Bertha has rolled out a
pentagram on the carpet and has lit candles all around it, doing some
kind of mumbo jumbo speaking in tongues gibberish . I absolutely
freaked, "That's IT ! That is IT !! Check out time !!
Goodbye...Session over. I do NOT need Satan bursting up from my main
room floor." Which of course REALLY ticked her off !! Bertha now
tells me she is a full blown Witch and said in her best southern draw " I've put hexes on judges
before and they've died ! " Well........I decided to take my
chances and show her the way out. and other than this constant
twitch, I'm just fine ! : ) .....JJ
